Kichisaburo Nomura

Kichisaburo Nomura (16 December 1877-8 May 1964) was the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan from 1939 to 1940, succeeding Nobuyuki Abe and preceding Hachiro Arita. Nomura was a former admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and he was sent to the United States as the Japanese ambassador before World War II. He was recalled after the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, an operation which he was unaware of.

Biography
Kichisaburo Nomura was born on 16 December 1877 in Wakayama, Japan, and he graduated from the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1898 second in his class. He served as the chief navigator on the cruiser Takachiko during the Russo-Japanese War, and he was appointed naval attache to Austria-Hungary in March 1908 before heading to Germany in 1910. From 11 December 1914 to 1 June 1918, he served in this post in the United States, having previously made a voyage to America in 1903 while he was in the navy. On his return to Japan laer in 1918, he was given command of the cruiser Yakumo, and he was promoted to Vice-Admiral on 1 December 1926 before being given command of the Yokosuka Naval District four years later. In 1933, he was promoted to Admiral, and he retired from active service four years later.

In 1939, Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs, serving in this post until his 27 November 1940 appointment as ambassador to the United States. He was sincere in his attempts to prevent war with the USA, and he frequently met with Secretary of State Cordell Hull; "special envoy" Saburo Kurusu joined him on 15 November 1941. On 20 August 1942, he returned to Japan after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, which ruined his negotiations with the USA. He managed the Victor Company of Japan after the war's end, and he was elected to the House of Councilors in 1954. He was reelected in 1960, and he died in 1964.